Hot-air furnace



A. W. SMITH. HOT AIR FURNACE. APPLICATION HLE APR.27. 1920.

Pafanted Feb. 15, 19211.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I;

- 1 g m Z In 5 A. W. SMITH. HOT AIR FURNACE. APPLICATION FILED APR-27, 1920.

Pafiszfised Feb. 115, i921. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- A. W. SMITH. HOT AIR FURNACE. APPLICATION FILED APR- 27. 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- 1 Z w f fi E Patentfi Feb. 15, 192K.

7 like characters on line Fig. 1

' scribed.

i be referred to.

ARTHUR W. SMITH, 0F GLOUCESTER, MASSACETTSETTS.

HOT-AIR rnRNAcE.

messes.

Specification of Iletters Patent. Patent d, F b. 15 1921' Application filed April 27, 1920. Serial No. 376,906. v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHURTW. SMrrH, a citizen of the United States, residin in Gloucester, in the county of Essex and tate of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Hot-Air Furnaces, of which the following description,-jin connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to portable hot air furnaces and has for its object to provide a 1 simple, eflicient and inexpensive furnace which is capable of being assembledv as a unit at the place of manufacture, shipped to the job and installed by unskilled labor in a minimum of time, and with a minimum of labor. V

The invention also has for its object to provide a furnace of the character described, which is adjustable in height, as will be de- To this end, theportable furnace is. provided with a strong, light base, preferably of wrought iron, a heating element attached thereto to be supported thereon and a casing inclosing the heating element and attached to the said'base to be supported by it.

In the preferred form of furnace, the casing may be provided with a movable section capable of being adjusted without change in construction to fit cellars or roornshaving ceilings of different heights,and provision is made foreffecting an air tight joint between the stationary casing and its movable section in the adjusted positions of the latter.

These and other features of this invention will be'pointed out in the claims at the end of thisspecification. V

Figure 1 is a vertical section of a hot air furnace embodying this invention.

Fig. 2, a like, section taken at right angles to the section shown'in Fig. 1.

j Fig. 3, a section like Fig. 2 with the movable sections raised or extended.

Fi 4, a horizontal section taken on the F igsf5 and 6, details of the tight joint to Figs. 7, 8, 9 and 10, referred to. V

1 In Figs. 1 to 4, is shown a preferred construction of air furnace embodying the inmodifications to 30 being 7 tensions of said vention, whichis provided with a base 10,

preferably a plate of wrought iron, a heating element 12 which is permanently secured to'the base plate 10 as by rivets 13, and a casing 14, preferably of sheet metal, which lncloses the heating element 12 and is'permanently secu'red'to the base plate 10 as by rivets 15, so that these three elements and any parts supported by them are movable as one piece. 7

The heating element may be of any suitable or'usual construction and is shown as a coal burning element, it being provided with a fire box 16 having a lining 17 of fire resisting material, a grate 18, a fuel inlet 19 normally closed by a fire door 20, an ash pit 21, provided with a door 22, and a smoke outlet 23, which leads to the outside of the furnace and which is preferably provided with a baflie or deflector 24 to cause the products of combustion to pass upwardly toward the top 125 of the heating element before passing out through the outlet 23.

The casing 14 surrounds the heating ele- .ment and is preferably made of sufficient height to extend above the top of the heating element, and has cooperating with it means for separating the space between the heating element 12 andthe casing 14 at its sides or ends'into passages 25, 26, which communicate with each other near the bottom of the furnace. In the present instance,

the casing 14 is made substantially oblong in shape, see Fig. 4, with the side or end walls of the casing separated from the heating element a materially greater distance than the front and rear walls of said casing, and each of the spaces between the side walls and the heating element is separated into the passages 25, 26 by stationary partition plates or walls 30 which are firmly secured to the front and rear walls of the casing 14 to be supported thereby with their lower ends separated from the base 10. The casing 14 and walls of sheet metal are conventionally shown. The stationary walls of the casing 14 have cooperating with them movable front and rear walls 31, 32 and side or end walls 33, 34, which are designed to form extensions of the casing, and the partition walls 30 have cooperating with them movable walls 35 which are designed to form exstationary partition walls.

.sagres 26 communicate. v y

Themovable extensions 35 of the stationary partition walls 30 may andpreterably willjbe. provided with inwardly inclined. portions 39 to provide theextensions of the Fig. 6; ried by the movable seitions and are de- These movable walls are designed to be connected together .so as to be moved as one piece, which may be effected as herein shown by connecting thefront and rear movable walls 31, 32 otthecasing bycross barsor pieces 36'to. which the movable-partition walls 35 are secured. r 1

The movable extensions 33, 34 of the easihgcoiiperate with the movable extensions 35 of the partition walls 30 to form extensions of the passaqesQ'o. and the movable extensionslfioi the partition wallscooperate with the frontand rear vallsBl, 32to form an extension of thespace 38 above the heatingelement with which.

space the paspassages 25 with enlarg'ed upper ends through, which cool air enters the said passages and is drawn d own toward the bottom of the furna e and then ascends through the passages 26 in ontact with the heating ele-] ment and intothe spare 88 abovethe latter,

and from whi h space the heated air passes out of the furnace.

Provision s made for effecting air tight or substantially air tight oints between the movable section of thecasing and the stationary se'tion thereof, and between the movable sections of the partition walls and the latter. v i

This result may be accomplished by pro- .vidingthe movable sections of both parts with packing members 40 hih may be of asbestos or other suitable material and which may be a folded strip of the same as shown in Fig. 5, or a single piece I as shown in The packing members l0 are car signed to bear against the stationary sections with whi h theycooperate so as to make atight joint therewith and thus in surethat the cooler air shall pass through the heated passage 26 for the full length of the same. The pa'king members 40 carried 50. b y the movable extensions 35of the partition walls may be pressed into eneagement ,with the stationary partition walls 80 by sprinqmembers, shown as metal strips {ll iatta lied to the movable extensions 35 and havingtheir free ends bearing against the stationary sections of the casing 14.

Inthe (onstruc'tion shown in Figs. 1 to 4,.the' inlet passages forfthe cool air are within the outer casingl land are designed to cooperate with suitable 'opcningsin the floor 42 of the room above the cellaror other place where the furnace is located, which openings arelocated on opposite sides Lofjanopening with whih the hot air outlet 58 cooperates,

theshop or factory complete with the mov- .mechanic or other. person can; remove the stall the furnace. but that the latter can be inahd said openings are "normally covered by the usual'registers, a

registers and reach down through the openingin the floor thusv un overed and draw [the movablese tionsof'the furnace up-into' position with'the mouths of the air inlet passages and the mouth of the air outlet passage in close-proximity to the first floor, and may secure the movable sections in fixed .pos1tion by screws, 'nails or other devices 45' ".whi h are passed through the movable sec- 7 tion of the casing 14 into the floor joists 460 1- "other stationary part of the building, after which the registerisplaced in position and the furnace is ready for use. :It will thus be seen that skilled labor is not required. to installed by unskilled labor without trouble and in a minimum of time. "It will also be ob served, that the furnace is assembled inthe factory or shop as a unit ready for use, and

does not'require to be altered or changed in 1 0 construction by skilled labor toadapt it to the p'articular job, but merely requires that the extension members he drawnup into on erative position with relation to the'openings in the floor. j V v I flheturnace is parti ularly designedas a heating planti'for small houses, bungalows and like buildings, and it'may be preferred to make it oblong'in cross section as shown in Fig.'4 to obtain a furnace of maximum capacity which can becarried through the ordinary doorway. V

In the constru tion shown in Figs. 1' to 4, the cool air from the room above the floor 42 passes down through the passages 25 and up through the passages 26 into the space 38 and then up into the roonnas indi cated by the arrows in Fig. 3.

As i-epresented inFigs. l to 4, the turnace is provided withv a single movable extension of th casing andpartition walls, but it is not desired to limit the inventionin this respect, as'it may be provided with an extension composed ,of a plurality of. members as represented in Figs. 9 and 10,125 wherein the extension ofthe casing is shown as composed of twomembers 50,51 and of the partitionwalls of two members 52, 53, whlch members are movable with relation to each other and to the stationary members i r with which they coiiperate and are suitably interlocked by flanges 54, 55 so as to telescope in a manner well understood. Suitable packing like that shown in Fig. 5 or 6 is employed between the interlocking flanges to obtain air tight joints between cotiperating sections or members.

In the furnace as thus far described, the air inlet passage is within the stationary casing and formed by partition walls 30 therein, but it is not desired to limit the invention in this respect, as the air inlet passage may be located outside of the casing as represented in Figs 7 and 8, wherein the air inlet passage 25 is shown as formed by a stationary pipe attached at itslower end to the stationary casing and in open communication with the latter near the lower end of the same, and having telescopically connected with its upper end a movable pipe section 61 which is capable of being drawn up from its normal position shown in Fig. 7 into its operative position shown in Fig. 8, the movable section 62 of the casing being similarly connected with the stationary member 63 of the casing and movable with relation thereto from its normal position shown in Fig. 7 into its operative position shown in Fig. 8. It will be understood that air tight joints are formed between the movable sections 61, 62 and the. stationary sections 60, 63 by suitable packing members as above described.

It will be observed that the furnace shown in Figs. 7 and 8 can also be assembled in the shop as a unit ready to be installed by unskilled labor on the job.

If desired or required, suitable braces or stops, not shown, may be used to prevent the parts of the furnace from separating, and heat resisting material 70 may be'used on the walls of the space 38 to reduce the fire hazard.

Claims:

1. In a hot air furnace, in combination, a supporting base, a heating element and a stationary casing for said heating element attached to said base to be'transported therewith as a-.unit, stationary partition walls within said stationary casing forming air pasages, a movable section of said casing cooperating with the latter-to form an extension thereof, movable partition walls cooperating with said stationary walls to form extensions thereof, and means for effect ng substantially air tight joints between said movable extensions and the stationary membcrs with which they cotiperate.

2. In a hot air furnace, in combination, a

supporting base, a heating element and a stationary casing for said heating element attached to said base to be transported therewith as a unit, and an extensible section for said casing attached to the latter to move therewith as a unit and adjustable thereon without change in construction thereof.

3. In a hot air furnace, in combination, a supporting base, a heating element and a stationary casing for said heating element attached to said base to be transported therewith as a unit, an extensible section for said casing attached to the latter to be moved therewith as a unit and adjustable thereon without change in construction thereof, and a packing member between said stationary casing and its extensible section to form a substantially tight joint.

4. In a hot air furnace, in combination, a base, a stationary casing attached thereto and open at its upper end, a heating element located in said casing and separated therefrom to form an air space between the same, said heating element being attached to said base and non-communicating with said casing and provided with a smoke outlet independent of said casing, and a movable ea'sing member cooperating with said stationarycasing and in sliding engagement therewith to form an extension of said stationary'casing and of the said air space.

5. In a hot air furnace, in combination, a supporting base, a heating element attached thereto, a substantially oblong casing surrounding said heating element and attached to said base to be moved with the latter and the heating element as a unit, stationary walls supported by said casing and interposed between the sides of the latter and said'heating element to form air inlet and outlet passages within the casing, a movable casing section cooperating with said stationary casing and movable partition walls cooperating with said stationary partition walls, and means for connecting said movable partition walls with said movable casing section to move with the latter.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

ARTHUR IV. SMITH. 

